Salt Water Hearts - An H2O Story
by mermaidhotty
Summary: Life has been calm for the pod since the events of H2O: JAM nearly 20 years ago. Now Zale and Amanda are in for the ride of their lives. One feels like an outcast, and one doesn't even know the life she could have had. But when tragedy causes their paths to cross, strange things start to happen for these two. Sometimes hiding the truth keeps us safe. And sometimes, it's the lies.


**The much anticipated sequel to H2O: Just Add Mermen! Note, if you have not read that story first, I highly recommend you go back and do! While this story can mostly be understood without it, why would you want to take that risk? (Plus, it's a great story if I do say so myself.) H2O: JAM can be found by going to my author page. Enjoy!**

 **I don't own H2O, but I do own any original characters and ideas. And my kiddie pool.**

Cleo held the tiny, squirming bundle in her arms. The female elders of her pod gathered nearby, having helped her with the birth. Lewis held her still in the water, his sapphire blue tail casually waiving in the calm waters of the moon pool. Tears slipped quietly from his eyes as he smiled at his exhausted wife. He'd never seen anything so beautiful as the birth of their son. Nearby the elders talked in calm whispered tones. Some didn't know what to make of the slightly different appearance of the child.

Dylan Zale McCartney lay in his mother's arms. His little webbed hands held to her hair and hand as he got his first meal. His gills flapped quickly in the water where Cleo was careful to keep him slightly submerged. She stared down at her beautiful baby, awed by his appearance. Rather than the deep blue of a merman, his tail was white and cream colored, with only a pale teal blue on his back fin and fluke. His skin was more on the pale side as well, but Lewis had also been pale as a kid. Yet, his hair was white like his tail. Not a blonde white, or a platinum, but almost like he had been dipped in bleach. Lewis would have almost thought their newborn son an albino if it hadn't been for his gray-green eyes, the color of ocean foam. That and what little blue he did have on his tail.

"Oh!" Cleo gasped in wonder as her son began suckling for the first time.

Lewis kissed her cheek and gently guided his small family to the ledge of the moon pool. Cleo perched on it gently, holding her little strange bundle tightly to her chest. Kissing her again, Lewis slid out the moon pool tunnel to go get dinner for the evening. He knew the elders would let nothing happen while he was away.

Cleo smiled at Lewis as he went to be the dutiful husband that he was. But her eyes never left Dylan.

"Cleo?" Elder Deahna approached her gingerly. She looked slightly perturbed about something.

Frowning Cleo nodded, signaling for her to come closer.

"Your son..." she touched the baby's tail, "he is one of the white ones."

"One of what?" He seemed just fine to her. She had just figured that maybe his tail would get darker when he got older.

Deahna gave her a sad smile. "It happens rarely. The last record we have of one was nearly 300 hundred years ago. No one knows why it happens, but your son…" she paused again and looked Cleo straight in the eyes. "He was born without magic. The moon will have no effect on him like it does us."

For a second there Cleo didn't understand what she was being told. "Without magic?" She thought of all the things she had learned to do in the last three years. Being invisible, learning how to use the different powers her friends had. Magic had become a key part of her and Lewis's lives. The more she thought, the more she realized how bad this could be. Mermaids and mermen used their magic on a daily basis. It was how they caught food and stayed safe from land people and predators.

Deahna watched the mixed emotions flash over the young mermaid's face. "You'll have to be vigilant with him. He won't be able to protect himself or participate in our ceremonies."

Cleo stared at the older mermaid. She'd grown to love her as a grandmother in the last few years. To hear these words from her was like a knife to her heart. Her precious boy would not be like the others. She and Lewis were already a little odd for once being land people. That wasn't to say they weren't completely accepted by the pod because they were. But they could never go back on land and there were many things about the ocean that they still didn't know. That last thought gave her another question.

"Will he be able to have legs?" Cleo hugged Dylan a little tighter. He had started to gurgle lightly in between his sucking.

Looking pensive and then sad, Deahna nodded her head. "But if he does it will because someone gave them to him. He won't have the power within himself to get legs on his own, like other mermen. And I must warn you, if he does get legs, he won't be able to change back. It will be as if he is a land boy. If he touches water after this, nothing will happen. We are unsure, the council and I, if he would be able to regain his tail ever again if such magic is used on him. We would suggest it never happens."

"What are you talking about?" Lewis had swum in only to hear the end of the conversation. He held seaweed and two lobsters in his hands. "Who can't get their tail back?" He was worried that something had happened to a member of their pod.

Deahna gave him a shake of her head. "We will let Cleo tell you. It is her duty as your wife. It is time we leave the three of you alone."

One by one the elders left. Cleo felt fresh tears, this time of sadness, slip down her face. Dylan gave a small cry and a hiccup. Gently Cleo placed him on her shoulder and quieted him with soft pats to his back. She sunk lower in the water to keep his gills covered. Her precious boy. Her precious boy who would never know land or magic. It would seem he was neither full merman nor land person.

Lewis wiped a wet hand over Cleo's cheeks, blurring the tears with the ocean. "Cleo?"

He listened as she bravely told him of what she had just learned. Why their son was different. How he would always be different. Sorrow filled his heart and broke for his small family. He knew it had to be something to do with what Denman and Briston had done to him. He'd seemed physically fine, but the tests and studies must have taken a toll on his body. This was his fault. He would do everything in his power to make it up to his wife and son.

"We will be his protectors. Since he can't go on land, we will school him as if he could. We will teach him all there is to know of land and sea. He may not ever have magic, but we can make sure he is smart, and brave." Lewis wrapped the two of them in his arms.

Cleo nodded into her husband's shoulder and sobbed. Lewis was right. Dylan would never feel like he was missing anything or that his lack of magic was a disability. He was a McCartney, and, as they had proven, McCartneys were as tough as they came.

**SW3**

Bella surveyed their new tiny apartment. It was clean and on the bottom floor of the complex. They could hear the ocean nearby, just barely, with their windows opened. In the morning she started her new job as a radio show host. Will would also be starting as a swimming coach at the local private school. They were excited and a bit melancholic at the same time. Sydney was farther from the Gold Coast than they would have liked. With it being an almost ten hour drive, they knew visiting their family and pod often would be unlikely. Plus with their daughter on the way, they were going g to be busier than either of them could imagine.

Will knew this was the right decision for them, but that didn't make it any less difficult. He and Bella knew the pod included them as their own, but they didn't really belong with them. Not the way Cleo and Lewis did. Rikki and Emma still spent time with them, but they too had lives on land. It had gotten. Increasingly harder for them to watch the magic go on without them. They were land people, and it was time they accepted that.

With their daughter in the way, they'd made a hard decision. Bella had braved the doctors for an ultrasound. As a sad relief they had learned they were having a fully human child. A daughter not part of the ocean world they had once known. She would grow up human and with human friends. Having her as a part of the pod and knowing what really lay in the ocean would be too risky. Little children didn't always understand why certain truths needed to be kept secret. The council had been worried about how they would handle a land child knowing too much, even if she was accepted as one of their own.

So when Bella was offered the job in Sydney, they knew they had to take it. Their daughter would grow up in the human world with a mostly normal dad and a normal mum. One day, if they felt it was right, they would introduce her to her extended family. But, for now, the little child growing in Bella's womb would know nothing of mermaids and mermen.

Will took a deep breath and hugged his wife close. Just a six months until they got to meet their little wonder. They had met baby Dylan the night before and we're so happy for their friends. It was strange how different their children would be. But Bella and Will both knew that they would be raised loved and cared for. It was the best they could do and they were going to do it well.

**SW3**

 **I know this one was quick, but it really is just to help set up the story. I didn't just want to jump in how far into the future I'm going to go without giving you guys some preface. Let me know what you think. I do have this story planned out mostly, and I don't think it's going to be nearly as long as H2O: JAM was, but I'm excited for it, and I hope you are too. You won't be seeing many of the H2O characters in this story, as I want the focus to be on only a few of my OCs. Anywho, that's enough from me. Stick around for the official first chapter! You won't be disappointed for the fun adventure ahead! Happy Swimming!**


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